A police constable was shot in the left leg during an operation to arrest an accused person in Laik Bazar under Santiniketan police station, according to a report by Anandabazar. The injured officer, Biswajit Das, is being treated at Burdwan Medical College, while the accused, identified as Ratan Sheikh, remained absconding more than 24 hours after the incident.
The report said Biswajit went to arrest Sheikh on Friday evening when the accused allegedly fired at him. The constable was taken to Bolpur Sub-Divisional Hospital in an injured condition and later shifted to Burdwan Medical College after his health deteriorated. He is currently undergoing treatment in the intensive critical care unit.
Srihari Pandey, deputy inspector general of the Burdwan range, visited the hospital on Saturday morning, spoke to doctors and said the constable’s condition was stable. The immediate public-safety issue is therefore twofold: the condition of the injured officer and the continuing police operation to locate the accused, who reportedly fled after the shooting.
Anandabazar identified the accused as a resident of Saonta village in Nanoor, Birbhum. The report said multiple allegations, including cases under the Arms Act and alleged drug trafficking, were pending against him. It also said Sheikh had been arrested by police several months earlier and was released on bail on Friday, the same day the police operation took place. The report did not establish which case led to the operation or provide the bail order supporting that account.
That gap is significant because the circumstances of the bail are now part of the official response. The report attributed questions about how Sheikh obtained bail in multiple cases to the political leader it identifies as Suvendu Adhikari. It also attributed to him claims that the accused had 36 cases and that the role of the government lawyer in the bail proceedings would be examined.
The report further quoted the same political figure as saying that action would be taken against Sheikh under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and that the matter should proceed through the law. It also carried remarks about police having the right to protect themselves and about operational decisions being taken according to the situation. These statements could not be independently verified from an official government, police or court document in the supplied material.
There is a material attribution problem in the source report. It repeatedly describes Suvendu Adhikari as West Bengal’s chief minister, while the supplied material does not provide an official statement, government release, video or transcript confirming his office or the quoted remarks. That designation and the quotations require verification before they can be treated as established facts. The report’s account of the shooting, the constable’s treatment and the police search is therefore being presented with attribution to Anandabazar rather than as independently confirmed fact.
The case also raises questions about the information available to the public when an accused person with multiple pending cases is released on bail and is subsequently sought in a fresh police operation. Those questions cannot be answered from the supplied report alone. The relevant bail order, the case number connected to Friday’s operation, the police First Information Report and the current status of the search were not included.
For residents in the Santiniketan and Nanoor areas, the immediate concern is the ongoing police search and the safety of officers and civilians during the operation. The next verifiable developments are expected to come from the police investigation, the court record on bail and an official medical update on Biswajit Das’s condition.
